Even after “unlocking” the user settings, the buttons to edit the avatar image for a user is greyed out.
However, the following command works for changing the image manually:
busctl call org.freedesktop.Accounts /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User${UID} org.freedesktop.Accounts.User SetIconFile s <path_to_image>
Is this expected when using systemd-homed/homectl?
Copy the image to user home folder and change file name to .face
For example – cp /path/to/avatar.png ~/.face
That still doesn’t resolve the issue, the buttons in GNOME settings are still greyed out.
Also, as I pointed out in the post, I was able to find an alternative method of changing the avatar image, my point was that GNOME Settings does not allow the image to be changed.
As I recall - with systemd-homed - your home is a luks encrypted container paired with a json data file - allowing the home to be portable by means of a removable device.
The homectl utility is expected to be writing to the json configuraiton file matching your account as the integrity and security of the file must be strictly maintained - never edit the json data manually.
Valuable info is linked at the begining of this document
→ Converting Existing Users to systemd-homed
Likewise the Arch wiki has good information
Right now, it appears that GNOME is following the settings declared in the file /var/lib/AccountsService/users/$USER, in which there is a config line for Icon=, that defines a path for an avatar image.
I considered the main issue was in the title: “Unable to change user avatar”
Critically
Unable to change user avatar using GNOME Settings when using homectl
Keyword, “using GNOME settings”